internet

Called the 'information superhighway' and the 'network of networks,' it is basically a means of connecting a computer to any other computer anywhere in the world. When two computers are connected over the Internet, they can send and receive all kinds of information such as text, graphics, voice, video, and computer programs. The type, size, or brand of the computers connected, or the type of software used to connect them (called browser) does not matter. No one 'owns' or 'controls' Internet, although several organizations the world over collaborate in its functioning and development. However, the high-speed, fiber-optic cables (called backbones) through which bulk of the Internet data travels, are owned by telephone companies in their respective countries. Internet grew out of the Advanced Research Projects Agency's Wide Area Network (then called ARPANET) established by the US Department Of Defense in 1960s for collaboration in military research among the business and government laboratories. Later universities and other US institutions 'plugged in' for their own collaboration in R&D making ARPANET grow beyond everyone's expectations and acquire the name 'Internet.' The development of hypertext based technology (called World Wide web, WWW, or just the Web) provided means of displaying text, graphics, and animations, and easy search and navigation tools that triggered Internet's explosive world-wide growth.

AOL was run at the peak of the Internet bubble by a coterie of relatively young managers who had, thanks to their efforts and in no small part to what turned out to be a fantasy-land economy and stock market, become fabulously wealthy. As wealth is often a strong contributor to self-esteem, it's safe to say this tight band of executives - busy in their spare time acquiring yachts and fractional jet ownership and third homes - held their particular views on business (and pretty much everything else) in very high regard. The problem was, the world was changing. Money was no longer falling from the sky from newly public dot-coms. Broadband Internet access was developing rapidly. Traditional advertisers were demanding accountability. And management whiffed, leaving AOL woefully unprepared for the changes taking place.

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